Once Upon A Faerie
by DoubleMaximus
Summary: Faeries,Fantasy,Love,Hate,Horror...Harper Brookes, age twenty, is a college drop out trying to find herself. After a visit to an amusement park, everything starts to change. For the bad, or for the good?
1. Chapter 1

"**Dost thou desire such succulent fruits that slumber within witch's earth? I take heed, O' Noble Cat! Great Noble Cat, a mistake has been! The grapes, the apples, the cherries, all afloat they are. Have ye no attention nor thought? One cannot just burgle fruit from the garden, the garden ends up always burgling itself."**

"**THE FAERIES"**

"**CUCUMBER MELON"**

"**w-wha..the fuck?.." **Harper woke up suddenly realizing she was mumbling amongst herself. A woman, if it even was a woman, tapped angrily on the glass that sat above a variety of lotions and bubble baths.

"**I would like to buy this cucumber melon bubble bath, please!" **She/he announced. Harper rang up "its" order awkwardly. The lady-man had skin that resembled a wet, wrinkly leather jacket, and hair that seemed like it would melt the sun if it was any more blonde, and its lack of eyebrows that are hidden with high-rise penciled lines remind Harper of _**"The Shining".**_

"**Hurry it up, girl" **It snipped.** "I have a nail appointment waiting!" **Trying to remember which number on the cash register to push, Harper quickly gets aggravated.

"**Jack Nicholson called. He wants his eyebrows back." **Harper said with her back turned.

"**Excuse me?" **It asked with a raspy voice. Harper turned her head back to look at the customer and smiled. **"That will be 6.99, si-ma'am!" **Harper bagged up the bubble bath and handed it to the customer after it handed her a twenty-dollar bill, which also ticked her off because she was running low on change.

Ching! The register opened and Harper gave the change to the customer. **"HEEEEERE'S JOHNNY…I mean your change." **The she-male scowled and grabbed its bubble bath in a heartbeat and clacked down the mall's hallway in its leopard printed high-heeled shoes.

Harper rubbed her fingers through her dark lavender hair to massage her temples. She could still hear the clacking of Jack Nicholson's expensive shoes. Today is not really a good day for Harper.

Actually, everyday for the past seven months have been rough for her. Being a college drop-out, she has been working nearly every day at the local mall in order to save up money for a college for photography. Her previous college she attended for two years were a total waste of time and money, and even where she met the biggest asshole in the world. Asher Rice.

Working at an Avon kiosk for several months can get pretty boring pretty fast, but Harper hasn't been complaining. Since sales are low and the mall is losing customers to other attractions day by day, all Harper does at the kiosk is sit on her ass and think about faeries. Yes, faeries. Faeries and the creatures of the unseen have been an obsession for Harper ever since she was little. Being twenty years old, yea, she gets picked on quite a lot even 'til this day.

So for Harper , that job wasn't so bad, until seven months ago of course. That's when the worst thing happened to her.

More terrible than an illness…

More terrible than a car accident…

More terrible than a woman on The Maury Show finding out that that man "_ain't yo baby's daddy."_

It's worse than anything she could ever imagine. On a dark and stormy night at the mall…a creature from the night lurked in to the shoe store, Journey's….filled out and turned in an application..and was hired. That awful creature was none other than the demon known as..

Asher Rice.

He wasn't actually a demon, but in Harper's eyes, oh yes. Her days and nights grew colder and colder by just knowing that he is right across the food court from her…watching…waiting for her to leave her cave so he can poke fun at her. He awaits her movement as a cat would watch and shake its behind vigorously until its final pounce has been made upon a fly. But like a fly, Harper thinks fast, and as a cat, well, Asher will try and try again until he catches it.

Wait, a cat…a cat. Suddenly Harper remembered her little day dream she had a moment ago. It made no sense to her and it confused the hell out of her. "I don't even understand that old English language", she thought to herself laughing. She felt a little stupid. A Noble Cat? What?

Harper looked at herself in the small doubled mirror on the Avon counter; the mirror where is has the normal side and then the other has the mirror where you get see your nasty ache and eye gunk zoomed in. She saw her purple bangs being indecisive of which side of her face to stay on, her purple hair beginning to fade to blue as it reached the bottom of her choppy layers, and her eyes, her emerald blue eyes which haven't changed at all since she was small. She loved her eyes. They were her favourite feature about herself. They were very round and large and her pupils were like black specks. She never understood why her pupils were so small, but she loved it.

As she began to drift off into Noble Cat land again, she heard someone being shot over and over and over again. She heard the sound of blood splashing on the ground and children screaming. She heard bombs explode and hundreds of people cry for help as they were bleeding profusely from their lost limbs burning in a fiery pit.

Nah, she actually heard someone say her name. Harper looked up feeling like there was a bag of wet salt on her head and noticed him. Spiky hair that faded from brown to bright blonde pointed at her like a thousand knives. A silver chained necklace of a sword hung from his grey V-necked shirt, and she could see the curving of his small biceps through his tight, black, long-sleeved undershirt. Her stomach dropped.

"**Um…Do you have some cream…" **Asher asked, **"..that makes you less ugly?" **Harper rolled her neck in a circular motion to crack it and responded, **"Suck it, Ass-er".**

"**Ohh…I'm just.." **Asher mimicked Harper's neck rolling. **"..too cool" **he rolled his neck again, **"to answer your question." **Trying to open her on-the-go milk bottle, Harper glared at Asher and then tried to ignore him. Then she sighed and looked at him.

"**If you would at least try to ask me a serious question, I would respond to you." **Harper rolled her eyes and poked a green bendy straw through the foil on the lid of the milk bottle. Asher then cleared his throat and said, "**Fine."**

He stood up straight and grinned.** "I see you're drinking 1%. Is that 'cause you think you're fat?" **He said in a fail attempt of Napoleon Dynamite's voice. Harper shot a stern look at him.

"**Heh, 'cause you are. You really need to lo-" **SPLASH! Asher didn't even have the time to finish his sentence. Harper had shot a straw-full of milk directly on Asher's face. Milk dripped from his scrunched up mouth down onto the Avon counter. He calmly chuckled and reached for the tissues on the counter with his eyes still shut. Harper nudged the tissue box slightly farther away from him every time he would try and grab it. He began to get irritated. Then out of nowhere, Harper's boss ran up and snatched a tissue out of the box and began to wipe off Asher's face. Harper quietly stood up and reached for the paper towels to clean up the milk on the counter before her boss noticed.

"**HARPER BROOKES!"**

Too late. The five-ton woman with horrifying red hair and red lipstick had caught her.


	2. Chapter 2

"**What an immature little brat you are, Harper!" **Betty shrieked while she continued to wipe off Asher's face. He was making awful faces like she was hurting him with her wiping. Harper sat on the chair with her arms folded causing one of her sleeves to slide off her shoulder.

"**He's the one being immature." **Harper stated in a monotone voice. **"Aww, how cute, getting your mommy to wipe all of the yucky moo moo off your face!" **Harper continued to drink the rest of her bottled milk. She dislikes her boss entirely. Her name is Betty but she calls her B.J. Betty, or "blow job Betty". Why? B.J. Betty is the spy of the mall. She snitches to the owner of the mall on anyone who leaves their kiosk, or is sitting with their legs spread, or is eating or messing around at the kiosk, AND gets higher pay. Yea, totally giving him the B.J's.

"**I've about had it, girl! You cause trouble nearly every week to this poor boy!" **Betty said as she cleaned up the rest of the splattered milk, which started to smell since the sun had been heating it up from the sky windows. Asher tried so hard not to smile because Harper was getting yelled at. She could just see his lip quiver with enjoyment, paining him not to laugh. Harper gave him the well known "I'ma cut joo" look and turned her head at him angrily.

"**Go on." **B.J. Betty shooed him away with pity. Asher took a few steps back, looked at Harper right in the eyes, gave her a big smile and covered his mouth from laughing as he turned around and jogged back to Journey's. She fixed her faded red hair, which showed grey strands of aging, and looked at Harper and sighed, **"Listen, you annoy me very very much, but I can't lose you."**

Harper looked up rather shocked, **"Wha..?"**

B.J. Betty sighed,** "Oh yes…You are quite a pain in the ass, but you are one of the only girls working here that always show up on time and have everything cleaned up…besides the milk. I can trust you more than some". **Harper was confused, but went along with it**. "Oh, but look at the time. Start closing up."** Betty stated after she looked at her watch. The word closing made Harper's heart skip a beat. Finally it was closing time.

She looked over and could see Asher wiping off a pair of knee-highed converse shoes, and also chatting with a group of bleach blonde girls with short shorts and flip flops. They all giggled because he was "SO HOT". Harper debated if he was hot or not. She sat there and kept looking at him, trying to find any sort of hotness within**. "Ugh!" **she snarled "**No way."**

The kiosk was almost completely covered in its blue tarp when Asher suddenly shouted,

"**LOOK A FAERIE!"**

Harper tripped on the tarp when she tried to turn around and see the faerie. There wasn't one of course, but Harper couldn't help but look. She fell pretty hard on the tiled floor, but really didn't get hurt. She could hear the group of blonde girls laugh their tans off. Asher leaned against the half-covered kiosk and said poetically, "**Once upon a time, there was a freak named Harper. She wasted her whole life searching for something that isn't real and died miserably. The End."**

"**What are you, five? I thought you were at least in your twenties. Does mocking my weight and my belief of faeries turn you on or something?" **Harper sighed with a pounding headache. Asher just stood there sucking his sprite through a straw. His drink was almost empty so the straw was making that awful rattling noise which irked Harper to the point of wanting to snap.

"**Ya know what, never mind." **she said in a hurry. **"I'm leaving." **Harper picked up her purse and bag and stormed off. She turned around to yell at Asher because he always follows her to the door, but he was still back there by her kiosk, sipping his sprite.

Harper walked to her car in the blackness of the mall parking lot. No one could be heard besides the giggling amongst the annoying teenagers waiting in line in the movie theater. She then thought of herself as lucky to not work there because they stay open later in the night.

*chingle*

Car keys jingled from Harper's car door. She tossed all of her stuff into the backseat, not caring where they landed, and then sat down in the driver's seat. She turned on her ignition half way to where the radio started to play and then she stuck a colourful designed CD into her CD player. Music began to play.

"**Turn around~" **she sang to herself. "**Look at what you seeeeeeeeee ee ee eeee eeee, In her face, the mirror of you dreeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaams~~". **The theme song from _The Neverending Story _was playing.

Harper began to get so into the music that she closed her eyes and smiled and continued to sing. She also started to head bang in a 1980's sort of way, which would look ridiculous to others, but Harper didn't care.

"**Reach the stars! Fly a fantasyyyyy ee ee eeeeee~ Dream a dream, and what you see will beeeeeee eee ee eee ee ee eeeee~~" **Harper's car began to take flight! It lifted above all of the other cars in the parking lot and flew forward in extreme speeds. Harper opened her eyes, still singing, and she saw a bunch of tiny, colourful faeries flying around her car, guiding her to the faerie world. The world was brighter and darkness and stress fled from Harper. The faeries danced upon her windshield, playing little flutes and violins in tune with the song playing on her radio. She then felt a somewhat forceful tap on her shoulder. Harper turned, expecting to see a faerie or other mystical being, but instead saw Asher sitting next to her in the passenger seat. Her mouth opened out of shock and suddenly her windshield wipers turned on and smushed all the faeries into colourful, bloody paste.

Harper woke up.

She took several deep breaths and tried to tell herself that was only a weird nightmare, yet _The Neverending Story _theme continued to play.

**Show your fear, for she may fade awaaaaaaaaaay~ In your hands, the birth of a new dayyyyyy~**

Right then, Harper's cell phone started to vibrate violently in her pocket. After she quickly turned down the music, she grabbed her phone and answered, **"Hey!"**

"**Harper.." **a crying voice said and began to sob.

"**Salem! If you are crying because of a song again, I'm gonna smack you!" **said Harper in an irritable tone.

"**No! It's Grandpa Leo...He doesn't have…much longer!" **Salem began to sob hysterically. Harper felt as if her body went numb even though she knew this day was going to happen. She was more shocked then sad. "I'll come pick you up right now, Salem, so get ready and we'll go visit Grandpa Leo" Harper said as she hung up and immediately pulled out of her parking space.

Harper's heart was racing and, out of nowhere, began to rain. Of course it started to rain, she thought. A death can't be complete unless it rains. Way to go, movies.

About ten minutes later, Harper pulled up to her driveway and could see Salem, her fraternal twin sister, standing on the porch in her bumble bee pajamas. Salem quickly jumped in the car and they sped off, leaving mud splattered on their steps. Salem shivered and didn't talk for a while, even when Harper tried to make conversation. Apparently, the hospital had called Salem right before she got into bed and told her that their grandpa didn't have much longer to live and probably would die later that night. Even if Salem is twenty years old, she still took death like a child, if not worse.

Grandpa Leo was the only parent they grew up with, besides their Grandma NumNums, but they can't remember her since she died when they were three. Harper and Salem's parents died when they were not even a year old. They heard that their father committed suicide and their mother overdosed on pain killers. So, they were pretty close to their grandpa.

Most of Harper's memories with her grandpa started to flow within her mind, what memories she could remember at least, and she remembered all of the times he would teach her about faeries and elves and such. He made the faerie realm sound beautiful and peaceful and full of love and joy, and she craved it. However, for some odd reason, Salem never believed in the faeries. Her and Harper had fought over and over and over again because they had different beliefs, but they still got along, even if they teased each other from time to time.

They arrived quickly at the hospital, but unfortunately, they cannot find a parking space. Getting impatient and annoyed, Harper abruptly pulled into a handicapped parking area.

"**I don't care if I get a ticket by these old farts,**" Harper grumped, **"I'm going to see my Grandpa Leo!" **Her and Salem lunged out of the car, slammed their doors, and ran towards the rotating hospital doors.


	3. Chapter 3

1st floor

2nd floor

3rd floor

The elevator in the hospital kept rising as more people would poor in on each stop. Their grandpa was on the 7th floor. So close yet so far. Harper had her arms folded and was chewing on her ring finger nail and her foot tapped impatiently. Salem was oddly doing the same thing with her foot, but was tapping her thumb against her pinky. It's a nervous twitch she has had for a while.

Grandpa Leo had his eyes shut and wasn't moving when Harper and Salem finally got in his room. He had a sheet covering his nose and mouth, but not his eyes. It must have slipped down from when the doctors covered him up. Salem walked over and covered her mouth because they were too late. Harper walked over beside her grandpa curiously. Her body felt empty that they had missed him before he had passed. Tears began to steam down Salem's face as she went over to touch her grandpa's shoulder.

"**RAHHHH!"**

The white sheet sat up and fell down onto their grandpa's lap. Salem fainted and Harper stood in the corner wide eyed and confused. Harper then grabbed her forehead, sighed and smiled.

"**Why did I have a feeling you would do that…?", **she laughed. Grandpa Leo fixed his puffy white and grey beard and snuggled back up in the white sheet.

**That was wrong wasn't it?" **"Grandpa Leo said with guilt. Harper nodded and leaned down to help her sister, who was lying on the floor in shock, regain consciousness. Salem sat up dizzily and began crying out of anger.

"**That wasn't funny, Grandpa! I really thought you had died!" **Salem said wiping her face.

"**Well, I will be tonight though" **he said folding his arms behind his pointy bald head. He acted like he was ready and happy for death. "**But you girls won't have to worry about me anymore." **He said as Harper and Salem went silent

"**Hey, now! I don't want to see my girls sad before I go! You two should be happy." **He said smiling. **"I'm finally going to be able to see Grandma NumNums again, and you know how much I miss her." **They both smiled calmly. His face turned a bit stern, or worried, for a moment.

"**I do have something to tell you girls though, only if you want to know." **He said swishing his mustache. He looked just like a gnome doing that. **"It will change the way you think of each other, most likely."**

Harper and Salem looked at each other in a confusing way. They could see it in one another's eyes that they were deeply curious, so they both agreed that they want to know.

"**It can't be that bad" **said Salem, **"nothing is going to change the fact that she is my best sister." **Harper smiled and rolled her eyes.

"**Well okay then." **Grandpa Leo slowly sat up and rubbed his neck, and sighed. **"Harper, your parents didn't die by committing suicide**." Harper's eyes widened as well as Salem's. Salem stepped forward and brushed her hair back with her hand.

"**Then how did our parent's die?" **Salem asked curiously.

"**No, Salem**." he replied, "**Your parents died by suicide."**

A silence rose in the room. Hospital beeps and humming from the machines could only be heard. Harper looked at Salem in a daze and looked at Salem's face. Salem had dark reddish brown hair that has never been dyed before, her face was long and had small brown eyes and was short and skinny. Harper's hair, before it was dyed purple and blue, was bright blonde, and she had emerald blue eyes, those round eyes she loved, and had a round face and she was tall, wide and curvy.

Harper then realized that she and Salem weren't sisters.

Salem's eyes bulged with fresh tears. She didn't even know what to say, nor did Harper. Grandpa Leo rubbed his head searching for words to cheer them up, or perhaps was worried of the questions that they were about to ask.

"**Wait…but..no…huh?" **Harper sat on the edge of the hospital bed, avoiding the cold railing on the side. Her grandpa, even if it isn't her biological grandpa, rubbed her back and sighed.

"**I know you have many questions to ask**," Grandpa Leo said, **"but unfortunately, I cannot answer them..."** He began to lie back down and wiggled around to get comfy. Harper and Salem both stood up.

"**No! You can't just leave us hanging like that!" **Harper shouted, **"Who are my parents? Are they dead too? Are they alive?"**

"**Heh..I love you girls", **he said chuckling, **"but the only thing I can tell you, Harper, is that if you want to see your parents, just close your eyes, and remember that it only takes once upon a faerie and twice upon a believer." **He closed his eyes and smiled.

"**What does that even mean? Grandpa?" **Harper said loudly. Their grandpa just laid there. Salem turned her head and stared at the bed.

"**Ha Ha, Grandpa, trying to think you can get your way out of telling me the truth are ya?" **Harper said chuckling. They both stared at him, waiting for him to pop up and growl like he did earlier, but nothing happened. Harper turned to Salem with a blank face, and they both knew. He was gone for good this time.

They each gave him a kiss on the cheek and on his bald head. He continued to have a smile on his face as they left the room. For some reason, they felt better than they did about his death than they felt from the drive there. It was true, that he is probably a lot happier up in heaven with his love, Grandma NumNums, but now they are burdened with the curiosity of knowing about Harper's true parents and where she came from, and if he is really telling them the truth. Perhaps it would have been better if they wouldn't have known.

Several weeks had passed, several inquisitive weeks. Harper was talking to Salem about what Grandpa Leo may have meant. Salem kept her eyes shut hard, making an awful scrunched up face, but Harper kept going on and on to what he could have meant. Harper stopped rambling and tapped her on the shoulder playfully.

"**Hey! Open your eyes!"** Harper said loudly. **"Look! I see my car!"**

Salem opened one of her eyes and then quickly shut them and started moaning in agony.** "Shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up…ehhhhhhhhhh" **Salem whined. Harper put her hands in the air and Salem opened her eyes and gripped tightly on the bar on her lap.

"**Here we GOOOOOOOOO!" **screamed Harper and down they went! She and Salem were riding the tallest and fastest roller coaster at the amusement park, WilloWood. They could feel their stomachs rising slowly each time there is a big drop. The wind made Salem's fake bumblebee wings flap frantically.

She seemed scared at first but now it looks like she is enjoying the ride. The ride ended quicker than expected. Harper was a bit disappointed that the ride itself was a total of one minute while the wait in line was about an hour, but it was still fun and worth the wait. They both got of the ride rather wobbly and giggly.

"**What do you wanna ride next?" **Salem asked bouncing in her yellow and black striped bumblebee dress.

"**Hmm…" **Harper thought. **"I'm kinda wanting a Do-It-Yourself slushy, what do ya say?" **Salem licked her lips and let her taste buds agree. As they walked, the sounds of children laughing and shrieking with joy filled WilloWood park along with Lady Gaga's "_Alejandro_" meshing in with a carousel's carnival music, which sounded quite nice. Harper had to take a second look at the carousel because there was a tall person wearing a long purple and blue cloak that was decorated in Celtic knots, and had a mask on, a very eerie mask that was similar to Bauta Cera Venice mask. Its mask was golden and it had a large nose pointing down while the chin extended outward. It didn't have a mouth, therefore making in even creepier. It turned and tilted its head to the side and caught eye with Harper. She was amused and laughed.

Salem shouted for Harper, **"HEY! Hurry up it's freaking 90 degrees out here. I'd like a slush!"**

"**Oh!" **Harper galloped around the crowds of adults and children. She was so distracted by the carousel conductor that she forgot how thirsty she was. The conductor sat upon one of its horses and spun around once, but when that horse came back around, the conductor wasn't on it.

"**Aw, man**" Harper said while she tied her hair in a ponytail, "**It's so damn hot, I call a water ride after we drink our slushies". **Salem agreed while she struggled to block the sun's rays from her eyes. Harper looked up and noticed a bunch of dark rain clouds were swarming around the park.

"**Uh oh, looks like we may not have to ride a water ride… that sucks**." Harper told her. Salem turned around to ask why, but then felt a drop of water on her face and then the sun vanished behind the clouds. They were next in line to make their own slushy. They were quite relieved of the sun's disappearance for a while. Suddenly, lightning struck the ground a few miles away and caused a big roar of thunder which scared lots of children. It even scared Harper and Salem for a moment. They both quickly filled up their plastic wiggly cups full of cherry, lemon-lime slush before the rain decided to pour, but they weren't quick enough. Children and babies started to cry and run with their parents to find something to hide in or under from the storm. It was kind of amusing to watch parents run frantically with strollers and fanny packs.

Harper and Salem decide to make a run for it themselves. The rain was so forceful that it actually hurt, so that made the girls realize that the rain isn't as fun when it really hurts. They needed to find something to hide under quickly. They both ran laughing for a while, until they ended up being separated by the scattering crowd. Harper looked all around for Salem but couldn't see her and her three ponytails or bee dress.

Lightning struck near the roller coaster they had just ridden on. Harper gasped and picked up her pace. She ran near the carousel and there she made eye contact again with the masked conductor. He was standing in front of the spinning horses getting pounded on by ran, but didn't move a centimeter. The carousel music still could be heard even with all the thunder and rain. Without thinking, Harper quickly ran up to the moving carousel next to the masked conductor. The horses and the music began to slow with one quick flick of a body movement from the conductor. Up close, Harper can tell that the masked conductor is a man due to his Adam's apple under the mask.

He knelt down, like Harper was a queen of some sort, and escorted her onto a white porcelain horse. Harper was highly amused. She sat upon the horse and the conductor stood up to help her and position her into place.

"**Ohh, classy**." Harper said sarcastically **"If you were my waiter, I'd tip you extra." **Harper began to laugh as the conductor took her right hand and kissed it. Harper stopped laughing instantly, her eyes widened and she couldn't help but blush.

The carousel began to move slowly and the music took Harper by surprise. The conductor hopped off into the middle of the carousel where he stood still. Harper laughed and said,

"**Haha, is a flirt like you gonna give me the ride of a life time?" **She had a fun yet awkward smile on her face as the conductor still creeped her out. She looked at her horse she was riding on and noticed that it had double horns on its head. She was sitting on the only unicorn that was on the carousel, but was confused to why it had two horns instead of one. The ride barely had a chance to pick up speed until she came back around and it had stopped again. Harper looked around for the conductor but couldn't see him anywhere.

"**Cheap!" **she yelled out into the park hoping for the conductor to hear. Harper sighed and crossed her arms and waited for the rain and lightning to stop. Salem wasn't picking up her phone and it was pissing Harper off. She sat there waiting and waiting, she thought the storm was never going to end, and she didn't even see anyone else walk or run by.

She sat..

And sat..

And sat..


	4. Chapter 4

She sat upon the doubled horned unicorn and started to worry about her sister, or...her not-sister, Salem. Even though they are both twenty years old, Harper still thinks of Salem as a younger sibling even if they aren't related. At that moment of thought, Harper remembered that she had brought her MP3 player and it was inside her WilloWood fanny pack. Yes, even she wore a fanny pack, they're convinient, no?

Being bored with the lack of motivation to go running in the pouring rain and continuously striking lightning, Harper plugged her earphones in her ears and listened to her favourite songs. Whitney Houston's _I Want to Dance With Somebody _started playing. She started skimming through all of her 80's music, skipping _Take On Me _and _Girls Just Wanna Have Fun_**, **and she even skipped her favourite song, _The Neverending Story. _Harper felt a bit strange, like she had no interest into listening to her favourite songs at the moment or something. All that was playing in her head was the jingling, upbeat carousel music. Strange though, because the music wasn't playing anymore on the carousel.

She unzipped her bag and placed her MP3 player back inside. It was a bit moist inside of her bag from the rain, so she wrapped her MP3 player and cell phone in a tiny plastic bag, which she had headache pills in just in case. She then looked up and watched the storm through the carousel. The rain hit the black pavement hard, washing away spilt ice cream and juices that stained it. That should give the janitors a little break, she thought.

Randomly, she had a sudden craving for cotton candy. Then she finally realized that she had dropped her slushy when running through the park. There goes $5.99 down the drain. She could have really used that slushy so she could wash down one of her just-in-case headache pills at that very moment. Harper sighed and turned her head to look back into the carousel's center. There stood right behind her, the masked conductor, so close that the chin of his mask could have poked her eye out.

**"Shit!", **Harper shrieked, **"What the hell? Don't do that!" **Harper quickly got off the porceline unicorn before she fell off from fright. The conductor stood as stiff as a boulder in a puddle. The carousel's music started to play as soon as the conductor flicked his head and hand back. He slowly tilted his head to the side, and reached into the left side of his cloak. He pulled out a giant puff of pink and blue cotton candy on a stick, and began to strut his way passed Harper. She laughed.

**"Wow. Can you read my taste buds or what? Hahaha!"**. Harper watched him leap off of the carousel into the shower of pounding rain.

The pounding rain?

**"Hey!" **Harper shouted, **"Your cotton candy is gonna -GASP!" **As soon as the masked conductor jumped off of the carousel and into the rain, Harper expected to see his cotton candy dissolve and melt all over his cloak, but instead, the cotton candy remained the same, and the conductor started to melt. His cloak began to shrink and wobble and wrinkle as it fell closer and closer to the ground. Harper continued to stare at the soaking wet cloak just lying on the puddly ground, and it eventually dissolved completely. Quickly after the cloak had vanished, the cotton candy shrivled and liquified within the rain as well. Harper felt herself falling to the floor of the carousel going numb with fear yet amazment. She couldn't figure out if this was all a trick or if he really did melt like the witch in _The Wizard of Oz_.

***SCREEEEEEEEEEETCHHHHHHHHHH***

Harper screamed and jolted up from the floor of the carousel and threw her body and fist to whatever was behind her. She had her eyes shut hard and she crashed into something so hard that she bounced herself back and hit the floor. She scooted back quickly and opened her eyes. While she was panting frantically, she looked and noticed the blue and purple cloak kneeling over a few feet away. The golden pointy chined masked and a deflated pink balloon was lying a few inches away from her. Harper then realized that she had punched the living daylights out of the masked conductor, and that he was holding the ends of a balloon to make it screetch near her ear. Guilt fled through her.

**"Oh my god, I'm so so so sorry!" **Harper said while holding her head, **"It was a reflex! Don't scare me like that!"**

The masked conductor was holding his face with his checkered hands. He was breathing heavily. Harper started to crawl over to retrieve his mask for him, but he quickly turned and grabbed her hand, stopping her from touching it. She drew back quickly, heart still pounding, and let him take his mask himself. Even though she felt that he deserved to get punched for scaring her, she still felt guilty. As Harper continued to stare at him and feel bad, the masked conductor sat up, back turned to Harper, and slid his mask back on. He turned around, walked over and held out his hand to Harper. She was confused, but went ahead and took his hand.

Suddenly the ride started to move, and picked up speed rather quickly. Harper stood and started wobbing all over the place and fell right into the conductors arms. She felt fear shiver on her spine has he put one of his hands on her back, she did not want to be on that carousel anymore. The masked conductor picked up Harper and sat her onto the double-horned unicorn again. She was surprised that he was able to lift a 190 pound woman like she was a box of air. The ride spun faster and faster, and the music began to play in a faster pace.

**"Okay! Ha...hah...heh.. I want to get off now!" **Harper said loudly. The conductor just stood infront of her and stared, not moving an inch, like he was a pole of some sort.

**"Look, I'm sorry I hit you!"**

**"I'm sorry for calling you cheap!"**

**"Please! Let me off!"**

He continued to stand there motionless. Harper gripped the bar sticking out of the unicorns back and closed her eyes tightly as the ride was almost spinning off the ground, or so she thought.

**"LET ME OFF, NOW!" **She screamed with anger. The carousel abruptly shook and started to slow down, including the music. Harper's heart was racing and she was breathing heavily. Eventually, the ride and music stopped, and she looked up.

The conductor was gone...

and the rain had stopped.

Inbetween quick breaths, Harper confusingly searched around her in hope of seeing someone else, but she didn't see anyone. Not a single voice was heard within the park even after the rain had stopped. Words circled in her head. She wanted to shout things like **"WHERE IS EVERYBODY**?" and "**HEY, ANYONE HERE**?", but couldn't even slide a sound out of her throat due to the slight fear of seeing the masked conductor again. She frantically stumbled off the carousel in case it decided to start up again and spin her like a cow in a tornado. As Harper walked in a fast pace through the empty walkways of WilloWood, with no one even in the gift shops or funnel cake stands, she fumbled to get her phone out of her fanny pack.

**INBOX: 0**

**OUTBOX: 6**

**-Hey! Where r u?**

**-Salem! HELLOOOOO**

**-Dammit Salem!**

**-Answer me u r pissing me off**

**-Why arent u picking up my calls?**

**-SALEM!**

Her phone made a loud click when she shut it and shoved it back in her purse. Harper was very angry, but more so afraid. She picked up her pace when she started to hear carnival music again. Her face was emotionless, but her eyes said other wise. The quicker she walked the wider they became. Not looking back, she hurried through the arcade section of the park. There, she passed dart games and ball tossing games where you can win stuffed animals and plastic inflatable instruments. She was almost passed all of the game stands when suddenly..

**POP!**

Harper shrieked and nearly fell to the ground. She started to turn around when..

**POP POP POP POP POP POP!**

**"AHHH!", **she screamed as she fell in fetal position with her hands covering her ears. A loud chuckle was heard not too far away from her. She looked up and saw someone standing behind the dart game stand, where a variety of coloured balloons were taped on the wall behind. He wore what looked like a ring leader's clothing and also wore a top hat. It was another masked man that stood about, but this mask was much more frightening in Harper's eyes. His mask consisted of three faces that were meshed together morbidly. The left side of the mask had a face that seemed to be calm and happy, the right side showed a pouting face full of sorrow and gloom, and the face in the center, which only covered the eyes and nose, expressed utter frustration and anger. His lips, which were visible, closed abrubtly, and then he picked up a balloon with his left hand, and a needle in his right. He turned his head and smiled at Harper. He knew she was waiting for him to pop the balloon. Harper kept still on the ground and stared, wanting to run so badly, but just couldn't. It was like the amusement was holding her down.

The carnival music in the back started to fade away, and soon there was silence. Harper wanted to look around and see why the music had stopped, but could not take her eyes off the balloon. A few moments passed and neither made a sound or movement. Harper wanted to run, and wanted to run fast, but she still remained. A dabble of sweat dripped down her temple and clinged on her chin. The feeling of the droplit refusing to drip off irked her. She didn't want to move, but the drop was asking for it. She kept her eyes on the man and the balloon, but quickly swiped the droplit off her chin and-

**POP!**

He had shoved the needle in the balloon in the blink of an eye, however, he was the one who had popped. His body scattered into tiny pieces of cloth and the balloon flew into the sky. Harper yelped and bolted towards the exit. She stumbled here and there but didn't care, all that mattered was leaving this place and finding her sister.

**"This is too much excitment for me!", **Harper mumbled to herself inbetween her panting breath. A few feet away from the pathway exit, she realized that a chained gate had blocked her from leaving.

**"DAMN IT ALL!", **she said while she thrashed the chains around.

**"HEY HEY! Who let you in here?", **a woman's voice from afar shouted.

**"Wha?" **Harper turned around and saw a security cop run up to her. It was a middle-aged woman with blonde hair tyed up in a loose bun. She looked quite confused.

**"How did you get in here?" **the woman asked irritably.

**"Uhh...It's WilloWood and I wanted to have some fun?"**

**"Well, how about you learn to wait a few more hours until the place actually opens, hmm?"**

**"What...? It's like eight o'clock at night, it's opened until ten, right?"**

The woman chuckled, **"Ohhh, you silly, silly drunk. It's seven in the morning."**

**"What the fuck? No it's not!", **Harper sassed as she fumbled for her phone to check the time. She continued to swear at the cop as she checked it, but stopped as she looked at her phone's screen.

7:03 a.m.

The woman sat her hand on Harper's shoulder.** "Would your mother appreciate those fowl words that spew from your mouth?". **Harper looked up at the woman in confusion, yet understanding that she was wrong, that it actually is seven in the morning.

**"Go home, take a bus or something, or come back again when we are open"**, the woman said as she started to unhinge the gate. Harper slowly walked out, and heard the woman close the gates back up behind her. She wanted to go back and ask her about the crazy carnies that she saw, but just contiued to walk on ahead, thinking of a way she can get home.


End file.
